Tips Blog

As smart consumers, we’re encouraged to keep a close eye on our personal credit score. And even if we don’t, others we do business with will. When making major purchases, like a house or car, when looking to rent an apartment, home or office, you can bet the owner is interested in your credit score.  According to AnnualCreditReport.com, your credit score “is a complex mathematical model that evaluates many types of information in a credit file. A credit score is used by a lender to help determine whether a person qualifies for a particular credit card, loan, or service.” Additionally, keeping a close eye on our credit rating may alert us to possible fraud if the reports we’re seeing don’t jive with our true financial management.

After hearing the commercial jingle on TV for FreeCreditReports.com, it seems that getting your credit report should be easy, and FREE. And, per new rules amended by the Federal Trade Commission on April 21, 2010, that should be even truer. These rules require that any advertising for a free credit report must also include a disclosure statement notifying consumers that they have a right to a free credit report and, supposedly, were put into place to avoid confusion about offers that appear to be free, but that, in reality, require that you spend money on a credit monitoring service. I decided to check it out for myself.

So, this is how it went:
I surfed to http://www.annualcreditreport.com, a service provided (supposedly free of charge) by the three largest credit bureaus in the US – Transunion, Experion and Equifax. I decided to run one of my three yearly allotted reports. I chose Transunion (it being the top of the list). I began the seemingly simple process by answering questions on the secure site. About 15 minutes later, after having to get a verification call from Transunion , I received a full report. But wait, where was my credit score? Ahhhh…..that’s where they get you. In order to get the score (which is one of the main reasons I did this exercise), I had to click another link that took me to a new website requiring me to fill out an additional form, input my credit card information and agree to a $14.95 per month service which would begin after a 7 day trial period. Since there was no other way to get the score, I opted to fill out yet ANOTHER form, and hit “agree” to the fee-driven service. Immediately after getting the magic number, I searched the site for a way to cancel. Lo and behold, a customer service phone number was all that was available. I made the call, was put on hold for the next available service rep, then was asked MORE security /identification questions. I requested that my new account be cancelled. The service rep began a series of questions about why I was dissatisfied with the service, doing her best to save the sale. Explaining that I really only wanted my credit score and wasn’t interested in credit monitoring services didn’t seem to make sense to her until I politely asked that she simply cancel my account.

I’m a bit baffled and am not sure that AnnualCreditReport.com got the memo from the Federal Trade Commission. Getting the report was fairly easy, but should getting the actual score be this difficult? If you move forward with getting a score, just be forewarned that you’ll likely need to subscribe to a monitoring service, even if you end up canceling your subscription.

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“I have run across a possible real estate scam this week that occurred in my neighborhood. A neighbor found hanging on their door a “Notice of Abandonment Lien and Foreclosure Sale”, which stated that their house is subject to foreclosure by the City of Austin on the steps of the court house… It goes on to say that on at least six occasions in the immediately preceding two year period inspections were made of the premises and no inhabitants were found present. It says that the city has the authority to auction the property to regulate the health and safety of its citizens.

This is an occupied home in a very established neighborhood and it is a ridiculous form. We sent the form to the City of Austin and to my real estate attorney, who all said this form is bogus and should be thrown away. From what we can tell this “Notice” may have come from a person interested in harassing and scaring the owners and potentially coming to them to try to buy the property at a low price. If you ever receive anything like this and have questions, please contact us.

We are always pleased to talk with you about selling or buying homes. We want you to buy or sell only when it is right for you. Call or email us if we may be of service.

“My daughter bought a condo earlier this year and once the sale was recorded at the county, she started receiving all sorts of offers in the mail for insurance, window screens, and most recently an offer for homeowners to acquire a copy of their deed.” The offer was from a company telling her that the U.S. Government Federal Citizen InformationCenter website recommends that property owners should have an official or certified copy of their deed. The offer is to have you send in $59.50 to this company at an address to have them provide you with a copy of your deed.

Do not fall for this-the title company or attorney’s office that closed your property will provide this to you at no fee. FREE.Another service that companies are offering to provide for you is filing a homestead exemption form with the county for a fee.You can do that for free, FREE, by contacting the appraisal district and getting the form and filing it yourself! A homestead exemption will give you a property tax reduction, so be sure to do this!

We are always pleased to talk with you about selling or buying homes. We want you to buy or sell only when it is right for you. Call or email us if we may be of service.